On May 31, I was extremely pleased to play a return gig at the popular Alexandria watering hole, St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub. With me were Jim Gormley on percussion and Matthew Leonard on bass. We had a great time playing our mix of pop, country, R&B, and blues – featuring cool original tunes as well as fun covers. The set included songs recorded by Keith Urban, Tina Turner, The Eagles, LaBelle, Garth Brooks, and Demi Lovato.

Here it is – the poster for my upcoming gig at St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub in the Delray neighborhood of Alexandria, VA. This establishment is well-known and well-liked around the area because of it’s good food, good drinks and GOOD MUSIC. I’ll be doing a mixed set of great popular tunes with some of my own original tunes woven in. It’ll definitely be a fun evening, and there’s no cover! With me will be Jim Gormley on percussion and Matthew Leonard on bass. See you there!!

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to perform for a local cable entertainment show. The show’s producer, Rick Dash, does a number of entertainment-related productions for the Arlington independent access channel under the Rick Dash Presents brand.

The production we taped was the inaugural episode of an entertainment-focused show highlighting local talent. The host is DJ Nose -” the best and most versatile DJ in the area” – who does a great job serving up the guests he has lined up to share with area audiences.

Although my drum and bass players were unable to join me, I played and sang to backup tracks culled from the work on the CD. The songs I performed were “In The City Lights” and “World Of My Own.” As soon as I have some video or know when the show is airing, I will let everybody know.

It was great fun. The folks were awesome – Rick Dash, DJ Nose, the other very talented guest Shanelle (I hope I’m spelling that right!) and the entire crew at Arlington Independent Media. Can’t wait to see the show!!!

And … I almost forgot. Huge shout-out and thanks to Heather Curcio Saladino who made the early Saturday morning taping on one of the hottest days of the year. You rock, Heather!!

Not literally. Perhaps “singin’ in spite of the rain” is a more apt description for what I did last night.

But I did have to get myself and my equipment out to P.Brennan’s in the rain to play and sing all night. Happily, I didn’t have to go it alone. Admittedly, the crowd was smaller than it might have been (as evidenced by the numerous emails I received) because of the rain. Even so, there were plenty of folks to share my original tunes and covers with.

Of course, I have to recognize a few people for taking the time and effort to make an appearance during the night – Wayne Kemp, Arthur Roach, and Patrick Wagner, especially. Also, I was amazed to see my former stage wife and good friend, the beautiful and talented Katie Nigsch Fairfax, come strolling in late in the evening with a posse of friends on a “girls night out.” How awesome was that?!

P.Brennan’s was great. Very nice staff, friendly patrons [generous tippers, too], good food and drink, and a really great physical “space” as they say. Seriously, it’s a bright and cheery Irish Restaurant/Pub – with plenty of tables, a huge bar, tons of beer on tap, and multiple dart boards. If you are in the DC area and haven’t dropped by, I recommend it. Music is good, too, by the way.

This is evidently a very new open mic and well worth dropping by for. It’s at Old Fire Station No. 3 in Fairfax, VA and is hosted by the Stray Dogz band starting at 4:00 p.m. every Sunday.

I gotta tell you they had all the equipment you could ever need for an open mic available. They were all very friendly. And they were ready to play back-up for you if you wanted additional instruments. Because I did all Joe Peck original tunes, I didn’t ask them to join me. But they could easily have done so to be sure.

I sang my songs “Going Through The Motions,” “Your Eyes,” and “Two Left Feet” during my 15 minutes (which is what each open micer gets). And to my relief, the songs were all well received. Always nice when people don’t look at you numbly while you’re singing and playing your heart out. There was even tapping of toes, etc. going on!

Stray Dogz started us off with about a 20 minute set. Good stuff – Nancy, Bill, Robb, Nelson, and Kyle do a great job. Then the open micers were welcomed to the stage. There was a nice assortment of people doing covers and originals, on acoustic and electric guitars, playing bass, playing drums and singing.

If you enjoy an eclectic mix of tunes, this would be a great place for a Sunday evening dinner or happy hour. And if you are in NoVa and are looking for open mics – you oughta try it out.

Front Page is a bar/restaurant in the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington that is a popular hangout spot for young professionals in the area.

It was an OK outing for me. I did covers of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and “Use Me” since this was a more upbeat rock-n-roll kind of place. Everyone was friendly and supportive. The substitute host (yes, another sub. are they trying to avoid me? lol) Dave Mallen made sure I was taken care of — even loaning me his guitar to use in lieu of pulling one of the vocal mics to use for my completely non-electrified acoustic guitar.

Using a different guitar posed a bit of a problem as it was a larger body style than what I’m accustomed to, so I had to reach around farther, etc. It also didn’t nestle as nicely on my leg as my own guitar — it kept slipping. Ha! But I worked through it. It was a really nice guitar.

If you live in or around the Arlington, VA area, you should check this out too. No cover. A good crowd. And you get to hear some interesting and pretty good music for free.